Happy New Year! The First Sunday of Advent marks a new liturgical year and a new start to religious life just as the new calendar year is a fresh approach to lifestyle in general. As Paul and Luke emphasize, this new liturgical year is an opportunity to re-evaluate our commitment to God and Christian values. When I think about the ways I actually devote time solely to God, I can only account for a few minutes of my day on a regular basis. I don’t build time into the end of my day for reflection or meditation. Even simply saying the rosary every day is something I used to do that I have fallen away from in the past couple years. Am I actually ready for the Son of Man to return? Most definitely not. Sometimes I stop to reflect on the many things I could be doing to enhance my relationship with God, but I never put these ideas into action. I always think that someday in the future I will be able to devote a half hour every day to meditations and reflection. Whenever I pray, it is always me talking, never time for God to respond. I don’t look for the response, only what I want to ask. This new year is a chance for me to take time every day to reflect over my life and what I value through my actions. I can add back in the daily rosary or another form of meditation to re-center my life in Christian values and prepare myself for the second coming of Christ. With the coming of this new liturgical year, we can all take a deeper look at our individual lives and determine how to bring Christ to the forefront.

Preparedness and peace are two central themes of the readings this weekend, and individual peace is a state I get farther away from the older I get. It seems that I was most at peace with myself and others when I was very young and had low stress levels and few time commitments occupying my day. As the Psalm for today advocates, “Because of my brothers and friends I will say ‘Peace be within you!’” (Ps 122:8). Following the advice of the Psalmist, the best way to achieve internal peace is to live for the family in Christ. Instead of hating the people I don’t know well or understand, I should act more like I did when I was younger and trust all the people around me. Accepting both the similarities and differences in others will bring me closer to others and help promote the global peace Isaiah emphasizes in the first reading. When I can show kindness to the people I interact with on a daily basis that are different than me, I will actually live the vision of universal peace. Only when I am able to relinquish control and promote peace through my daily actions during Advent and in the weeks and months that follow will I truly be able to re-dedicate myself to Christian values this coming liturgical year.